Whispers of Gold and Old West Virginia Hills

“he stats that him and his partners hid a large a mount of gold from the indians and it is in your country undoubtedly”

Come on in and sit a spell, neighbors. I’ve been sorting through the archives and found a real gem that’ll take you straight back to a spring day in 1878. This letter, penned by C. S. Burditt from Flat Fork in Roane County, is a little rough around the edges—stained and yellowed by time—but the heart in it beats as strong as ever. It’s a humble piece of paper that carries the weight of a nephew’s love for his uncle and the grit of a man facing hard times in the hills of West Virginia.

Money was tight back then, just like it gets for us sometimes. Burditt talks about the low price of sheep and hogs, and how a bit of rust was making wheat prices climb higher than a mountain peak. But it wasn’t all talk of crops and coins. He was looking forward to a long ride on horseback with his friend Henderson Gandie to see the country and share a meal. It reminds you that no matter how lean the wallet, a visit from kin is a treasure all its own.

Speaking of treasure, this letter hides a bit of a mystery! Burditt spins a yarn about a dead man’s written account of gold buried to keep it safe from Indians. According to the story, the gold was hidden right in the uncle’s neck of the woods after a tragic chase. Even his father was convinced they could find it if they just got together. It’s the kind of legend that makes you want to go out and look at the old hills with fresh eyes, wondering what secrets are still tucked away in the shadows.

When we look at this fragile scrap of history, we’re seeing more than just ink on a page. We’re seeing the timeless connection of family and the way we’ve always reached out to one another during the hard seasons. Whether they ever found that gold or not, the real wealth was in that November visit and the stories they shared by the hearth. It’s a gentle reminder for us today that our own stories, no matter how simple, are the true riches we leave behind.

Original Transcription

Flat fork Roan Co W Va
May 26 1878

Dear uncle I seat my self to drop
you a few lines to let you now
that wea are all well at present
and hope that these few lines may
find you all well it ha bin a
long time since i heard from you
I shal tell you that times is
hard in this Country money is
scarce and stock is low
fat sheep is 2 to 2 1/4 pr lb and
hogs is not worth any thing
Corn is 75 cts pr bushel
wheat is from 90 to $1.00 and I think
think that wheat will be very high
on the account of the Rust
uncle I want you to rite to
me and tell me all a bout the
times and how you are a geting
a long I am a comeing up in
November and Henderson Gandie
is comeing with me wea are
going through th hills
a horse back and see th
Contry uncle I will tell

[Page 2]
Writ out and he is dead and
he stats that him and his
partners hid a large a mount of
gold from the indians and
it is in your country
undoubtly and from the
dis cription of the place and he
stats that him and his partners
were chased by th indians
an all were killed there were one
half of th party from the
east & the other from the west
and he stated that it was shure
true father says that you
and him can find it if he
were at your house
and he said that was going
to come up this fall
I shall ask you to answer
soon and tell me the news
So Good By
From C. S. Burditt